


Gratitude festival

by cool_ha_ha



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:15:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24558277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cool_ha_ha/pseuds/cool_ha_ha
Summary: Garak is avoiding the gratitude festival when he receives an uninvited guest
Relationships: Eim Garak/Winn Adami
Kudos: 7





	Gratitude festival

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Fascination (But Gay)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21394048) by [vocal_fries](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vocal_fries/pseuds/vocal_fries). 



> So I found the tag Elim Garak/Winn Adami and needed more of it.  
> Go read fascinations (but gay)  
> I love my strange pairings

The fucking gratitude festival. These poor people write down their failures and burn the paper in some sort of hope that their gods will make their futile problems disappear. Garak won't be having any of it. Superstition isn’t a very Cardassian trait. Patterns are coincidence, that is all. These Bajoran rituals are based on ancient peoples trying to make sense of the unknown. He knows he’s being cynical, but it's hard not to be when the whole station is partaking in silly behaviour, such as burning paper.

No, tonight is the one day Garak avoids customers. He knows he’ll stick out like a sore thumb if he tries to join in, even if he was there to try and ease tension between his and their peoples, he knows they won’t appreciate his attempt. They’ve come a long way since the occupation, but he can’t see how smiling and burning paper will make any difference, and that goes for all celebrations. He can’t imagine Bashir being pleased if he showed up wearing those hideous christmas jumpers when winter comes.

Bottle of wine open, book in hand, music on, relax.  
A knock at the door.  
“Fan-fucking-tastic” he thinks.  
He opens the door.  
“Kia Winn?” he says bewildered.  
“Mr Garak is it?”  
“Yes ….?” He starts looking around. No entourage, no Kira. It's just him and her standing in his doorway.  
“Can I come in?”  
Now he’s really confused.  
“May I ask the circumstances of your visit?” he says with the hopes of buying him more time or more information. Either would be welcomed.  
She looked down at the floor and back up with that patronising smile on her face. “I had this terrible headache. I didn’t want to take the good doctor from having such a good time at the festival, I thought you might be able to remedy me?”  
She’s lying. Bajorans can’t lie when their lives depend on it, so right now her attempt is bordering pathetic. This leaves two options. One; she’s avoiding the infirmary for some reason, or two; she needs Garak specifically for something, but he knows for a fact she alone is no threat to him, thus it can’t be serious. 

Which raises another question, who let her get this far. He’s “the dangerous Cardassian” living on DS9. Any Bajoran with a brain cell knows not to interact with him without witnesses. Maybe that’s it? She needs something underhand that her peers can’t know about and she’s here to strike some kind of deal?  
“Then what kind of host would I be not to allow you entry?” He steps back letting her in. She seems giddy as she steps inside and starts judging the place. Not much to look at he admits, but if she’s looking for anything specific, she’s looking in the wrong places. 

As she wanders around and spots the bottle of wine on the table, he can’t help but notice she’s got her back to him, not a usual sight for him. Not often people feel safe enough to walk in front of him. She must be feeling very confident.  
“May I?” She says gesturing to the bottle. Once again, not a sound tactic if her motives are dubious.  
“I’ll get you a glass” He says on his way to the replicator. 

She makes herself quite at home sitting on the couch. He puts the glass on the table, she fills it herself and her excitable mood is unrelenting. This does give him another minute to come up with theories. Maybe she was already drunk? No, she’s not stumbling or slurring. Maybe she needs him for some kind of publicity stunt? No or she would have a group with her to witness the event and pressure him into agreeing with her. Maybe she has some kind of blackmail? Or is she trying to get some from him?

“Do you get guests often, Mr Garak?” She says trying to start casual conversation.  
“Not as often as yourself I assume.” She laughs at his little comment.  
“I’m not as social as people think.” He sits back and waits for her to finish her point. He’s not giving her this. “I’d actually like to get to know you better, Mr Garak”

Now he was getting concerned. She’s slowly closing the gap between them. He’s still politely smiling, but still weighing this up as a possible threat. One of her hands lands on his knee. “You’re very attractive,” she says quietly.  
She’s drunk. This confirms it. Only one thing to do now.  
“Computer, call Dr Bashir” Kia winns face dropped. Garak refused to look at her  
“Cannot comply”  
“Why not?”  
“Doctor Bashir is not online”  
“Great…” Garak’s brain is searching for alternatives. Then he remembers that Winn is still sitting by him. She looks disheartened. “For your headache, my dear. I just remembered, I don’t have anything for it and I can’t imagine alcohol will do you any favours”.  
“I feel fine now actually. Maybe all I needed was some … enjoyable company.” She leaned closer to him again. God only knows what is going through her head. She seems too rational to be drunk, but why else would she call him-  
He looks down on her and inspects her body language. He smiles  
“You’re flirting with me” He spoke as though he just worked out the murderer in a who-done-it.  
She smiles more and nods.  
“Oh, you Bajorans are so confusing. After all those years of cultural oppression, you still didn’t take it upon yourselves to figure us out, did you?” His voice was thick with pratronism, but the Kia didn’t seem to mind his tone or the mention of the occupation.  
“You should enlighten me. Tell me, Mr Garak, how I should have approached you?” She was basically over him as he tries not to touch her anymore than he has to at this point.

He laughs and gently pushes her off him so he can scooch further into the corner of the couch. “We play a dominance game. I can’t imagine you’re the type who likes fighting back or submitting, no. You like getting your own way, with as little hassle as possible, don’t you?”  
“Oh yes please” She lunges at him and he gets to his feet leaving her on the couch.

“No, I don’t think you realise what I’m getting at.” He starts walking around the room, she watches him. “I don’t play by Bajoran rules and you don’t play by Cardassian rules. I don’t see how this is going to work out.” Before she can answer back he’s already lifted her to her feet and shoving her in the direction of the door. “It's been nice getting to know you, but I believe you’d better be on your way back.”

She struggles a little in his grip but from where Garaks stands, she’s not putting up much of a fight.  
“You can’t invite me in and throw me out!” She shrieks as he continues to walk her to the door. “I came here for you. Don’t you want me?”  
“My dear, you don’t appear to be in a clear frame of mind and I don’t take advantage of people while they are in such a state.”  
She gaps offended and pulls herself backward nearly toppling them both over. “I am NOT in a state. I wanted you to love me”  
Those are words he hasn’t heard in a long time, and yet more evidence something is wrong. Time to put his foot down he thinks.  
He lets go and scoops her up to carry her to the door himself.  
She holds around his neck tight and stops kicking.  
“It’s been a while since a gentleman has lifted me like this” She smiles at the ground and then back to his face.  
“How unfortunate” Before he can elbow the door open she snuggles up to him and kisses him on the cheek. Another sensation he seems to have forgotten over time.  
It’s nice. Warm. Loving. And as much as he wants to disregard her affection, he can’t quite bring himself to. Her soft hand cupped around his cheek, thumbing down his ridges.

Suddenly the door seems so harsh. Here she is in his arms, cuddling him, seeing past his terrible track record. Even in her altered state she can see him well enough to know what she wants and how she wants him to respond.  
But on that same note, she wouldn’t be doing this if she was sober (or whatever the appropriate word is). He’d be a monster for agreeing to her terms under these circumstances.  
Unless whatever drug coursing through her veins just influences her subconscious. It is possible... what she says is the truth, but only under such circumstances will she ever say it or act on it. What other reason could there be.  
But even then, what about the next morning. He can’t be sure she’ll react well, or even remember her begging, her lying, manipulating- Maybe she’s more Cardassian than he gives her credit for.

He stops and puts her down by the door. She keeps his eye contact as she puts her feet firmly on the ground.  
“Would you regret having me?” he says quietly. He’ll know if she’s lying.  
“I’ve always liked you more than the others” Her face was almost pleading. Even if her words were harsh, her tone was sincere and he could appreciate that.

Decision made, he took her face in his hands and kissed her. She grabbed at his tunic and didn’t let go. He was expecting caressing and body to body contact not this tight aggressive grip she has on his clothes. He chooses to pick her back up, resulting in an excited laugh he wasn’t expecting. Once again, she eagerly reaches for his mouth. He can roll with that.

He lets her go on the bed and kneels by her side.  
“And you are sure this is what you want?” he asks.  
“Don’t be modest Mr-”  
“Its Elim”  
“Don’t be modest .. Elim.” The word made her shudder. “Call me Adami” She pecked him one last time before kicking her shoes off and starting to undress herself.  
“As you wish, Adami”

*  
Morning.  
Best nights sleep she’s had in years. Beds a bit tough but- Bed? Not her own. She opens her eyes fully. She’s not dressed. She’s on DS9. She’s not alone. As she slowly turns to see who she’s ended up in bed with, her stomach turns as she realises, he’s Cardassian.  
“ShitShitShitShit-” She thinks.  
How did this happen? Think. Last night. She greeted some people at the festival and then … felt compelled to have sex with Garak. Why Garak? Why now? Was she spiked? No, she didn’t drink. Drugged? No or she wouldn’t have come here, or remembered it.

What now? Wake him up? Try and leave without being heard? She knows they don’t have acute hearing, but it seems very rude to leave your lover this early out of shame. No, she thinks. She’s a powerful Bajoran priest, it's his word against hers.

As she sits up to slide out of the covers  
“Leaving so soon?” His voice was smooth considering how rough she currently feels. “After you begged me not to, how’d you put it, ‘throw you out’?”  
She took a deep breath. He also sat up to face her.  
“Last night will not be spoken of to anyone, do I make myself clear?” She tries.  
“Or what, your cult will remove you? You’ll be a traitor? My dear, I don’t have a reputation to uphold. It is I who should be making the demands” He casually got up and started dressing. “However, I shall not have you thinking of me as a bad host. The sonic is available while I sort breakfast. Take your time” He doesn’t even look at her as he leaves the room.

She sits in shock horror. How could she allow herself to fall in bed with a Cardassian. Not just some Cardassian. Garak. Why Garak? Does she take his offer or just get the hell out? Is this some sort of black mail? Best to just do as she’s told and clean herself up.

Garak is waiting in the living room when she returns clean and mostly dressed.  
“I need another pair of hands to tie the ribbon” This is like humiliation. Asking your one night stand to help you dress yourself. What has she come to?  
“Of course. I recall you needing a hand removing it, if memory serves” He was already helping her tie the ribbon belt around her waist. She’s surprised he knows how to do it, but then again, he is supposedly the station's tailor.  
“I don’t know what game you’re playing Mr Garak, but I can assure you, I’m not playing”  
Garak lets go of the ribbon and leaves her room to turn and face him.  
“Firstly -Adami- it wasn’t me who came pleading for physical attention yesterday evening to your door. It was you who came to me. Secondly, I am unaware of this ‘game’ you speak of. If I wanted to blackmail you, this wouldn’t be how you stopped me. Finally, I would prefer if you would simply admit you regret our encounter and discuss the matter with me like an adult.”

She had no response. He stepped back and calmly waited for her. She brushed herself down and chose her words carefully.  
“Since you feel that way, I would like to keep this matter quiet. I don’t know what came over me and I … Appreciate your understanding.” She looked up from the ground and glanced back down. “You were very reasonable with me and… I don’t regret it. Thank you.”  
He waited until she looked at him again before speaking.  
“That wasn’t so difficult was it. Your people are so much prettier when you tell the truth”  
She nearly snapped at him then, but she supposes that was a compliment by Cardassian standards.  
“I would also recommend you discreetly remove that bite mark. There's only one race who leave such a calling card and there's only one on the station” He says dryly.  
“I’ll be sure to get right on that”  
“I didn’t hurt you did I?” He says with actual concern in his voice. She almost felt small with the way he was addressing her. It's not often she feels so vulnerable, so pedestrian.  
“No. I’m fine… aside the teeth impression on my shoulder” She admits  
“Glad to hear it. I wasn’t sure which sounds were-”  
“Yes, yes, we need not go into it” She cuts in blushing.  
He stops to inspect her  
“I’m assuming it doesn’t happen often?” He prys  
“I devoted my life to the prophets. Such worldly .. sensations are long since past me”  
He doesn’t believe a word of that.  
“You could just say that you miss it, if that's not beneath you?” Once again his words are hurtful but only because of that massive ego she’s developed. Without her position to fall back on, she is just.. Some stranger stood justifying herself to a Cardassian.  
“I should be on my way. Bajor needs its religious leader”  
“And skipping breakfast?” He says playfully. He knows he’s getting to her. She can either fight him or play along.  
“Thank you Mr Garak, but am more than capable of providing for myself” She begins to storm off.  
“Clearly” he throws back. She holds back from continuing their little discussion and makes her way out. She said thank you. She got what she wanted. Now she has to spend the rest of her days worrying that Elim is the type to kiss and tell.

Garak was pushing his luck, fighting for a bit of dominance, an argument, maybe enlightening her a little further if she was so curious as to how Cardassians usually conduct such business. He can’t imagine she’d be into it, but if she ever found herself in such a position again (on her back) then she might find use for such information. It was comforting to be wanted. For someone to come to him instead of him chasing affection he will never receive. 

A knock at the door  
Did she forget something?  
“Yes lieutenant?”  
Jadzia smiled at him biting her lip.

**Author's Note:**

> I argued with myself about making this straight up porn, but I think its funnier to not know.
> 
> Should I do it anyway?


End file.
